Comment by nyeah

This is an important point. But it doesn't conflict severely with the article.

Sure, to first order, and in the short term, engineering work is often valued more or less at random. The valuation is driven by factors that we can't predict (or that we would really rather not predict).

But to second order, and in the long term, engineering work is often valued according to whether it makes money. Often enough that it's worth paying attention to the article.